Article 16(5) of Decree Law No. 556 on the Protection of Trademarks, regarding transfer of the trademark, has been annulled by the Constitutional Court by Decision no. 2015/49-46 dated May 13, 2015 and published in the Official Gazette no. 29356 on May 15, 2015.
With this Decision, Article 16(5) regarding the transfer of the trademark, "Where the nature of the transfer is such as to mislead the public concerning the nature, quality or geographical origin of the goods or services for which it is registered, the TPI shall not register the transfer unless the successors agree to limit registration of the trademark to goods or services which it is not likely to mislead." has been annulled.
Article 16(5) deemed problematic by reason of Turkish Patent Institutes' extensive interpretations of the term "similar trademarks". The cancellation of Article 16(5) is now expected to compensate for trademark holders which have failed to obtain registration in Turkey, due to Article 16(5) in the past.
Click to access the Decision in Turkish.
Originally published May 18th, 2015
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